Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project draws team from Pakistan
A delegation of four members from the neighbouring country, reportedly at the instance of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, took stock of the Sabarmati river project with an intention to replicate it on River Ravi in Lahore.
It may have been described or dismissed off as an urban project with almost nothing in it for the Ahmedabad city but the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project, initiated by Narendra Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, has drawn keen interest from Pakistan.
A delegation of four members from the neighbouring country, reportedly at the instance of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, took stock of the Sabarmati river project with an intention to replicate it on River Ravi in Lahore.
"We are here to study the project since the conditions here and in Lahore are similar," Lahore Commissioner Rashid Langrial, who heads the delegation, said following his visit to the Sabarmati riverfront in Paldi area of Ahmedabad.
He said: "We have been looking and surveying such riverfront development projects and we learnt that the conditions here and back in our country are similar. This river, like Ravi, is also not a perennial river and that's why we are studying this project."
Langrial said he and his team would look at the environmental impact, water level requirement, structural details and "learn from the experience in Ahmedabad". Officials of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation explained the project to the Pakistani delegation, which even took a high-speed boat ride across the Sabarmati river.
Besides Langrial, the delegation comprises of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director-general Ahad Khan Cheema, LDA's strategic policy unit chief Moazzam Sipra and Mustafa Kamal Chaudhary, a technical expert and consultant for urban infrastructure projects. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had shown keen interest in the project and pushed the officials to visit.